Standard strategy - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: pothole

2026-01-07T13:14:29Z

pothole

Gogok: (upcoming) castle chest contains a PoGL

2025-09-04T15:42:40Z

(upcoming) castle chest contains a PoGL

Umbire the Phantom: some copyedit

2025-06-26T08:27:44Z

some copyedit

Umbire the Phantom: word choice

2025-04-11T09:45:03Z

word choice

Furey: /* Goals */ Delete unneeded "unlucky".

2024-06-14T07:41:41Z

‎Goals: Delete unneeded "unlucky".

Furey: /* Goals */ Mention prayer as a source of restore strength

2023-10-30T21:43:33Z

‎Goals: Mention prayer as a source of restore strength

Umbire the Phantom: clean up endgame goals, clarify risk of dupe amulet earlier, etc. etc.

2023-06-20T22:10:10Z

clean up endgame goals, clarify risk of dupe amulet earlier, etc. etc.

Cathartes: /* The early game */ upcoming: poison instadeath is removed

2023-03-15T02:55:02Z

‎The early game: upcoming: poison instadeath is removed

Cathartes: /* The mid game */ extra word

2023-03-15T02:41:28Z

‎The mid game: extra word

Cathartes: /* The mid game */ players who read this page might not know what "covetous" means yet, so specify the liches

2023-03-15T02:40:51Z

‎The mid game: players who read this page might not know what "covetous" means yet, so specify the liches

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 ===Goals===
-* Kill the [[Wizard of Yendor]]. The portal to [[Wizard's Tower|his tower]] is located in one of two fake towers. His tower is fairly straightforward, but the man himself is a pest. He can curse your inventory items, summon nasties or a [[Double trouble|clone of himself]], and use touch of death. He can also [[theft (attack)|steal]] quest artifacts, the invocation items, and the [[Amulet of Yendor]]. Once you kill him, he will not leave you alone until the end of the game; if he does not simply reincarnate to face you again, he may throw any number of maledictions in your direction. However, you need the [[Book of the Dead]] he carries to...
+* Kill the [[Wizard of Yendor]]. The portal to [[Wizard's Tower|his tower]] is located in one of two fake towers. His tower is fairly straightforward, but the man himself is a pest. He can curse your inventory items, summon nasties or a [[Double trouble|clone of himself]], and use touch of death. He can also [[Amulet theft|target and steal]] quest artifacts, the invocation items, and the [[Amulet of Yendor]]. Once you kill him, he will not leave you alone until the end of the game; if he does not simply reincarnate to face you again, he may throw any number of maledictions in your direction. However, you need the [[Book of the Dead]] he carries to...
 * ...perform the [[Invocation ritual|invocation]] and retrieve the Amulet. Once you have killed the Wizard, you should have all three invocation items, allowing you access to the [[Moloch's Sanctum|Sanctum]]. Once you hack your way through the undead and priests standing in your way, you will face the High Priest of Moloch. Kill him to retrieve the Amulet - some players can be tricked by a [[fake Amulet of Yendor]] from a cloned Wizard of Yendor, so be sure yours is not a fake. From here, you can return to dungeon level one and take the upstairs to begin the final test.
 * Pass through the [[Elemental Planes]]. The Wizard can reappear at any point up to the Astral Plane, so do not let your guard down. [[Levitation]] is very useful here, as is a way of detecting the portals (confused or cursed [[scroll of gold detection]] is popular). [[Conflict]] can also help to keep the masses of super-elementals off your back, especially on the [[Plane of Air]], where the air elementals can chew through your health in an incredibly short time.

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 * Do the [[Quest]]. Some quests (such as the [[Wizard quest]]) are generally considered to be easy, others (such as the [[Monk quest]]) are considered extremely difficult. Either way, you will have to do it at some point: the [[quest artifact]] is almost always very useful, and you will need to retrieve the [[Bell of Opening]] from your [[Quest nemesis#Quest leaders and nemeses|nemesis]] to complete the game.
 * Conquer the [[Castle]]. You will need some way of getting in. Any source of [[levitation]], a [[tonal instrument|tonal musical instrument]], or [[wand of striking|some]] [[force bolt|way]] to smash the [[drawbridge]] plus [[jumping]] or diving into the water will do the trick. A musical instrument has the advantage of allowing you to [[Drawbridge#Strategy|grind just about every inhabitant of the Castle to mush]] without any risk to yourself, but you will want levitation or jumping to reach the weapon and armor storerooms. The Castle can be very risky if you have not [[genocide]]d [[lich]]es and do not have [[magic resistance]]. It is not uncommon for the Castle to contain one or more teleporting, [[monster spell|nasty summoning, armor destroying, equipment cursing, touch of death]] using arch-liches, so be careful! There is a [[wand of wishing]] in one of the corner towers, which should fill most remaining gaps in your equipment.
-{{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Master- and arch-liches will no longer generate at the Castle (or outside of Gehennom) when class L are specified by [[monster creation#Selection by monster class|class-based monster creation]].}}
+{{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Master- and arch-liches will no longer generate at the [[Castle]] (or outside of Gehennom) when class L are specified by [[monster creation#Selection by monster class|class-based monster creation]]. Also, per {{commit|a8800a9acd509456156e978b7b743f62a564e8b1}}, the Castle chest is guaranteed to contain a [[potion of gain level]], making reaching level 14 for the quest easier.}}
 ==The late game==

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 ===Goals===
 * Gain [[magic resistance]] and [[reflection]]. These two defenses counter many powerful attacks that would otherwise harm your equipment, severely damage you, or even kill you. They cannot be gained intrinsically, and must be provided by worn or carried equipment, such as [[dragon scale mail]] or [[quest artifact]]s. Because they are so vital to survival, are rarely randomly generated, and often come packaged with other useful attributes, many early [[wish]]es are spent to gain one or the other.
-* Gain [[poison resistance]]. Without poison resistance, any [[poison]]ed attack or trap has a chance of being instantly fatal. Several classes acquire poison resistance intrinsically early in the game, but others will want to consume monsters that provide a [[Poison resistance#Safe corpses|safe chance]] of getting this valuable resistance. A [[unicorn horn]], [[tinning kit]], carefully planned [[prayer]], [[ring of sustain ability]], or source of [[restore ability]] can also help you by allowing you to consume poisonous corpses (including many that confer poison resistance) without suffering attribute loss.
+* Gain [[poison resistance]]. Without poison resistance, any [[poison]]ed attack or trap has a chance of being instantly fatal. Several classes acquire poison resistance intrinsically early in the game, but others will want to consume monsters that provide a [[Poison resistance#Safe corpses|safe chance]] of getting this valuable resistance. A [[unicorn horn]], [[tinning kit]], carefully planned [[prayer]], [[ring of sustain ability]], or source of [[restore ability]] (with [[Potion of restore ability|the potion]] usually preferred to [[Spellbook of restore ability|the spell]]) can also help you by allowing you to consume poisonous corpses (including many that confer poison resistance) without suffering attribute loss.
-{{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Unicorn horns no longer restore lost attributes.  Also, poison no longer has a chance of instantly killing you, but it can do a significant amount of extra damage and drain your attributes.}}
+{{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Per {{commit|d0b11fd2c05dae5ebc7a3ff6425257e6ed372894}}, poison no longer causes instadeath, but still results in significant damage to maximum HP and attributes. Per {{commit|43d331c4ebe7bcd30a7cab7d4228957e283584c2}}, unicorn horns no longer restore lost attributes.}}
 * Complete [[Sokoban]]. Sokoban has wands, rings, and one of either a [[bag of holding]] or an [[amulet of reflection]], both of which are quite useful. It is also no-teleport, which makes cornering [[unicorn]]s for horn harvesting or gem tossing very easy.
 * Complete the [[Gnomish Mines]]. The Mines are the first branch, but some players consider it to be dangerous, as it is inhabited by swarms of dwarves and gnomes — which, individually, are slow and weak, but tend to gang up, and may be [[offensive item|generated with wands]] that will kill you very fast. However, [[Minetown]] may contain many shops and is guaranteed to contain a temple, so it is an excellent place for [[price identification]], [[Curse-testing#Altar testing|BUC testing]], [[protection|donating to a priest]], and finding useful loot. Particularly dangerous traps may be generated below Minetown, so it is not recommended that you venture down unless you have some method of dealing with them. However, there is a [[luckstone]] at the bottom of the Mines, which is a useful thing to carry around once you can get your luck up.

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 Some monsters are not safe to attack with melee — if you fight a [[floating eye]] in that manner, for instance, you may get [[Paralysis|paralyzed]] for hundreds of turns, thus becoming an easy prey to creatures lurking around; use ranged weapons or magic instead, and check this wiki for the entries of monsters you do not know to avoid such nasty surprises.
-If your HP gets below 6, or in case you are "weak" with [[hunger]] or otherwise in a dire situation, use the extended command "[[Prayer|#pray]]". Do not do this more often than once every 1000 turns, though, since that may anger the [[god]] you are praying to, which would probably make things even worse for you.
+If your HP gets below 6, you are "weak" from lack of [[nutrition]] or you are otherwise in a dire situation, use the extended command "[[Prayer|#pray]]". Do not do this more often than once every 1000 turns, though, since that may anger the [[god]] you are praying to, which would probably make things even worse for you.
 Engraving "[[Elbereth]]" on the ground will stop most monsters from attacking you and cause them to turn to flee while the word remains intact; during an emergency, you can write it in the dust by typing {{kbd|E}}, then {{kbd|-}}, then "Elbereth", but then it will not last long — there are ways of making it more durable, so it pays to learn about [[engraving]].

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 ===Goals===
 * Go through [[Gehennom]]. This portion of the game is composed almost entirely of mazes, which can be frustrating and boring to map. There are [[Gehennom mapping|some ways to ease the pain]]. Particularly on maze levels, [[Digging]] a path between the upstairs and downstairs (and perhaps also into other regions) when possible can help reducing [[mysterious force]] induced headaches and [[Rodney]] visitations during the ascension run.
-* Be careful of the [[Demon prince#Unique demons and summoning|Powerful demons]] who make their homes in Gehennom. Though most heroes have sufficient firepower, by the time they get there, to tear through the hellish overlords, if you get yourself into a pickle, your god will be unable to help you while you are in the fiery depths. Be prepared to face [[Juiblex]], [[Orcus]], [[Baalzebub]] and [[Asmodeus]], and possibly [[Demogorgon]] if you are unlucky.
+* Be careful of the [[Demon prince#Unique demons and summoning|Powerful demons]] who make their homes in Gehennom. Though most heroes have sufficient firepower, by the time they get there, to tear through the hellish overlords, if you get yourself into a pickle, your god will be unable to help you while you are in the fiery depths. Be prepared to face [[Juiblex]], [[Orcus]], [[Baalzebub]] and [[Asmodeus]], and possibly [[Demogorgon]].
 * Kill [[Vlad the Impaler]]. The upstairs to [[Vlad's Tower|his tower]] is located between the 9th and 13th level of Gehennom. Once you do find it, the tower has a couple of nice goodies, notably an [[amulet of life saving]]. Vlad might be very easy or harder than major demons, depending on the weapon he is generated with. He carries the [[Candelabrum of Invocation]], which is required for the invocation ritual.
 * Find the [[vibrating square]]. The vibrating square is located at the very bottom of Gehennom, on a level with no downstairs. It is not found by means such as [[magic mapping]] and requires wandering to find. Since this can take some time to find, you would rather do it before drawing the ire of the [[Wizard of Yendor]]. In version 3.6.1, it is marked by (~) once it is found. In versions 3.4.3 and earlier, it was not marked even after it was found, thus it was recommended that you mark it in some way so that you did not have to go through the hassle of remembering or finding it again.

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 {{Languages}}
 ==Before you begin==
 You may find these pages helpful from an overall strategy perspective:
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 ===Goals===
-* Kill the [[Wizard of Yendor]]. The portal to [[Wizard's Tower|his tower]] is located in one of two fake towers. His tower is fairly straightforward, but the man himself is a pest. He can curse your inventory items, summon nasties or a [[Double trouble|clone of himself]], and use touch of death. He can also [[theft (attack)|steal]] quest artifacts, the invocation items, and the Amulet of Yendor. Once you kill him, he will not leave you alone until the end of the game; if he does not simply reincarnate to face you again, he may throw any number of maledictions in your direction. However, you need the [[Book of the Dead]] he carries to...
+* Kill the [[Wizard of Yendor]]. The portal to [[Wizard's Tower|his tower]] is located in one of two fake towers. His tower is fairly straightforward, but the man himself is a pest. He can curse your inventory items, summon nasties or a [[Double trouble|clone of himself]], and use touch of death. He can also [[theft (attack)|steal]] quest artifacts, the invocation items, and the [[Amulet of Yendor]]. Once you kill him, he will not leave you alone until the end of the game; if he does not simply reincarnate to face you again, he may throw any number of maledictions in your direction. However, you need the [[Book of the Dead]] he carries to...
-* ...perform the [[Invocation ritual|invocation]] and retrieve the [[amulet of yendor|Amulet]]. Once you have killed the Wizard, you should have all three invocation items, allowing you access to the [[Moloch's Sanctum|Sanctum]]. Once you hack your way through the undead and priests standing in your way, you will face the High Priest of Moloch. Kill him to retrieve the Amulet. From here you can return to dungeon level one and take the upstairs to begin the final test.
+* ...perform the [[Invocation ritual|invocation]] and retrieve the Amulet. Once you have killed the Wizard, you should have all three invocation items, allowing you access to the [[Moloch's Sanctum|Sanctum]]. Once you hack your way through the undead and priests standing in your way, you will face the High Priest of Moloch. Kill him to retrieve the Amulet - some players can be tricked by a [[fake Amulet of Yendor]] from a cloned Wizard of Yendor, so be sure yours is not a fake. From here, you can return to dungeon level one and take the upstairs to begin the final test.
 * Pass through the [[Elemental Planes]]. The Wizard can reappear at any point up to the Astral Plane, so do not let your guard down. [[Levitation]] is very useful here, as is a way of detecting the portals (confused or cursed [[scroll of gold detection]] is popular). [[Conflict]] can also help to keep the masses of super-elementals off your back, especially on the [[Plane of Air]], where the air elementals can chew through your health in an incredibly short time.
-* Welcome to the [[Astral Plane]]! There are many [[Astral plane#Strategy|creative strategies]] for dealing with the hordes of angry priests and angels, as well as the formidable [[Riders]]. Good luck and Godspeed.
+* Reach the [[Astral Plane]], and cleave through the horde of nasties, hostile priests, [[player monster]]s, and angels, as well as the formidable [[Riders]], to reach your high altar. Once there, sacrifice the Amulet of Yendor on it to end the game and ascend to demigod(ess)hood. There are many [[Astral plane#Strategy|creative strategies]] for dealing with the denizens of the final plane - good luck and godspeed!
 ==External links==
 * [http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/582497-nethack/48576033 Ascension Walkthrough]: A newbie-friendly and almost completely accurate, commented until the Gnomish Mines.
 ==Variants==
 * [[Standard strategy - SLASH'EM]]
 * [[Standard strategy - dNethack]]
+{{nethack-367}}
-{{nethack-366}}
+[[Category:Articles for beginners]]